Evidence the Jews were slaves in Egypt

Did the exodus really take place?

The Exodus (from Greek ἔξοδος exodos, "going out") is the founding, or etiological, myth of Israel; its message is that the Israelites were delivered from slavery by Yahweh and therefore belong to him through the Mosaic covenant. It tells of the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt following the death of Joseph, their departure under the leadership of Moses, the revelations at Sinai (including the Ten Commandments), and their wanderings in the wilderness up to the borders of Canaan. The exodus story is told in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and their overall intent was to demonstrate God's actions in history, to recall Israel's bondage and salvation, and to demonstrate the fulfillment of Israel's covenant.

To many, this will seem like an absurd question. The book of Exodus has a dozen chapters explaining that it did. Yet recent decades have found at least some biblical scholars casting doubts on the historicity of this story.

It turns out that there is no archaeological evidence of any kind relating to a separate settlement of religious people in Egypt during that time. There is also no evidence of any kind relating to a mass migration across the Sinai Peninsula.

If things did indeed happen as it says in the Bible (and the Torah), there would have to be some archaeological evidence. But there is none.

Further, there is no evidence of any kind that Egypt even used slaves, and certainly no evidence that they enslaved an entire nation. The workers that built the pyramids are known to be well payed Egyptians. The pyramids weren’t even built in the right time period, being 800 to 2,000 years older than the supposed “Exodus”.

The same techniques used to track the migration patterns of ancient humans by examining DNA also show that there was absolutely no procreation between ancient Egyptians and ancient Israelites during the time that the story was supposed to have taken place. Not to put too fine a point on it, but if an entire nation was enslaved for hundreds of years, surely there would have been some inter-breeding.

In short, there is no physical evidence this story ever happened.

Among the scientific community, this is not a contested issue; even conservative Jewish sources admit that there is no evidence (but they still have faith and claim the story is metaphorical).

See Also

• Were the Jews really slaves in Egypt or is passover a myth?^[1]
• Who Built The Pyramids? – Harvard Magazine, 2003^[2]
• Grounds for disbelief – Haaretz 2003^[3]
• Doubting the Story of Exodus – Los Angeles Times – 2001^[4]

References

1. . http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/were-jews-ever-really-slaves-in-egypt-or-is-passover-a-myth-1.420844
2. . http://harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/who-built-the-pyramids-html
3. . http://www.haaretz.com/grounds-for-disbelief-1.10757
4. . http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/13/news/mn-50481

See also

• Source: http://www.religiouscriticism.com/bible/the-jews-were-never-slaves-in-egypt/" rel="nofollow" title="">http://www.religiouscriticism.com/bible/the-jews-were-never-slaves-in-egypt/